Immigration is a challenge for David Cameron

Telegraph View: David Cameron is right to recognise that immigration levels
should be sensitive to the requirements of a free market.

David Cameron told Andrew Marr yesterday that he wants Britain's net inflow of population to be in the "tens of thousands", rather than the average of 200,000 a year over the past decade. His words were encouraging, in so far as the Tory leader is beginning to flesh out his party's promise to cap immigration in response to economic demand. Politicians must stop being squeamish about discussing numbers of immigrants (especially future immigrants).

Mr Cameron is right to recognise that immigration levels should be sensitive to the requirements of a free market. Indeed, he must be careful that he does not put a cap on net inflow that stops British industry responding quickly to a sudden need for skilled workers. But, that said, the Tory leader needs to be braver in talking about other aspects and types of immigration.

Last week, Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, displayed the sort of courage we would like Mr Cameron to show. He signed a cross-party statement calling for urgent measures to stop Britain's population reaching 70 million; and, in an interview afterwards, he drew attention to the damage caused to the fabric of our cities, and to our cultural heritage, by poorly assimilated immigrant communities.

It is a shame that Mr Cameron did not discuss Europe yesterday. Our control over immigration is enormously limited by the law of the European Union, leading to scandalous abuses. British registrars have reported that Pakistani men are contracting marriages with European women they barely know. East European gangs are involved in the racket, which has been made possible by a Law Lords' ruling that cast aside tough Home Office regulations.

Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, wants to tighten the law again. But he will probably not have time to do so before the election. The task could well be left to a Conservative government, which will have to address not only the scandal of mail-order brides but also the wider legitimate fears of a British population that now regards immigration as a terrifying threat to social cohesion.